The Power of Creative Thinking

In March 2014, I wrote a ‘Thought Piece’ on Creative Thinking. At the time, I didn’t really know what to do with it. It was sitting inside my head and it just needed to be released.

After more than 18 months of being limited to not much more than my desk, I thought it was time to share it more publicly.

As I said, this was written in March of 2014 and already it’s evidencing itself.

I hope you enjoy it. I hope it evokes a response and creates discussion. I look forward to it…

Education and the importance of Creative Thinking

3 March 2014

Australia is in trouble.

The lucky country is slowly drowning in our own sense of arrogance that we will continue to survive in the same fashion as we have in the past.

Recent changes in policy and thinking is cause for concern as we pursue a path that is a far stretch from claiming the rights to the title of the ‘Clever Country’ – a position that is critical to the future sustainability of this great nation.

You don’t need studies full of facts and statistics to know that our employment laws are inadequate for this country to sustain a manufacturing industry and with recent closures of major car manufacturers along with the huge job loss across the myriad of allied industries, we need to appreciate where our strengths lay in moving forward.

While we continue to outsource to China and India, we need to retain our ability to be ‘thinkers’.

Labour based resources are typically transferable and easy to outsource – fabrication, coding etc. They’re all about ‘learned’ skills that stems from an ‘A+B=C’ format of teaching.

Thinking, however, is not. It’s nurtured through culture, environment and education (distinctively separate from teaching – which is what is currently occurring in our schools and tertiary learning facilities).

The importance of changing our education system and the way we educate, fund and nurture our youth is critical.

Change needs to occur NOW.

Of all the ‘thinking’ that is required, the most critical is that of ‘Creative Thinking’. Innovation is never driven from left brained, analytic solutions. For us to be ‘clever’ we need to develop new and innovative ways for our country to move forward. Execution can be handled by anyone, but the thinking needs to be generated through creative thought.

We don’t need teachers, we need educators. We don’t need our children to learn the answers but to be educated on how to discover the solutions. Problem solving is our greatest strength and if we educate our children on how to solve problems rather than rudimentary ‘1+1=2’ thinking, then we equip them to tackle any problem – as they will use their thinking to develop a solution, rather than turning to the back of a book for the answers.

We need to challenge each other and our thinking. Simply…we need to change our thinking. If we believe that our future problems will be solved through the same thinking that lead us to the issue in the first place, then we must surely accept the inevitable conclusion of continued failure.

While our government continues to develop orphan solutions and cut funding, we face developing a country full of inadequately equipped youth with a dim future.

As the mining construction boom draws to a close, we continue to watch the agricultural industry fall and our detention centres fill, surely we must look for ways to build our country before it’s too late.

While I certainly do not claim to possess the answers to solve these enormous issues, what I do know is that we need a critical increase in the amount of right brained thinking that is needed into developing solutions, policy and our future direction.

This will conjure extensive heights of fear amongst those who rely on left brain thinking to govern the nation, but without change, we are destined for mediocracy…or worse.

Fostering creative thinking is the key. It will generate the environment required to deliver solutions, develop new industries and produce results far beyond conventional expectations.
It will require courage, leadership and futuristic thinking.

Do you have what it takes to change the country?